MacGyver: Spudger
by A Rhea King
Summary: (2016) Jack has gotten himself into yet another gambling debt, and when Mac refuses to help him, their fight may end up costing their mission and lives.
1. Chapter 1

**Spudger**  
By  
A. Rhea King

 **Author's note** : 12/14/16. Moved chapter 7 to 8, and replaced chapter 7. NOW it's complete.

Chapter 1

 **My grandfather had a cabin in Minnesota that we visited often, and when I was 12, it was not uncommon for the snow there to last well into spring. So one warm spring day, I decided to build a snow igloo. While I was building it, my Grandfather asked if I planned on getting in it after I was finished. I told him of course I was. He put a stick inside my almost finished igloo and told me that if something went wrong, poke it up through the snow and he'd be watching for it. I didn't understand what that meant. Until I got in the snow igloo and it collapsed. See, my Grandfather knew what I didn't, but he also knew that if he'd told me not to go through with my plan, I would have just ignored him. He chose to let me learn by leaving a lifeline for when my poor decision ended with me buried under melting snow. I poked the stick up through the snow, and within a minute he was pulling me free from my snow tomb. What that lesson taught me was that when you see someone making a bad decision, sometimes you have to step back and let them have their bad decision, and just be the friend who dig them out of their avalanche of regret.**

#

 **LAS ANGELES**

MacGyver slowed to a stop outside of Thornton's office. Jack and Thornton were inside her office in a very heated argument. But more of a surprise was Jack's black eye, split and swollen lip, an ugly green bruised cheek, and cut up knuckles. He'd been in a fight with someone. Was that what the two were fighting about?

MacGyver walked over to the desk of Thornton's assistant, Annmarie, but didn't take his eyes off the two.

She didn't pause her speed typing when she told him, "No, I don't know what they're fighting about."

"How long have they been at it?"

"Twenty minutes."

"Did it start here?"

"I guess. He walked in while she was on the phone and the next thing I know they are at each other's throats."

The two suddenly noticed MacGyver. He offered a smile, which neither returned. Jack turned back to Thornton, pointing at her in a very threatening way. He said something final and stormed out.

MacGyver started to talk to Jack, but he growled as he stomped by, "She wants to see you."

He watched Jack go down the hall until he disappeared. Then he looked back at Thornton. She had returned to her desk, calmly working on her computer as if there had never been an argument. MacGyver walked into her office, closing the door behind him.

"Is everything okay?" he asked her.

"Yes. I need you on a flight to Caracas in thirty minutes. Riley is already at the airport. I'll have to brief you on the way."

"Okay. Is everything okay with you and Jack-"

"It was about a raise. He wants one, I can't..." She smiled at MacGyver. "I can't authorize raises right now. We don't have room in the budget yet."

He nodded. "He gets a little hot about money."

"Yes. A little. I need you on that plane in twenty-eight minutes now."

MacGyver nodded once and left. He had just stepped off the elevator into the parking garage when it suddenly hit him about why Jack would want a raise and be so mad that he didn't get it. It also frustrated him because he knew what he had to do next.

 **CARACAS**

MacGyver sat in a dark, hot car next to Jack. His attention was divided between checking the mansion below with binoculars and watching Jack.

He sat next to MacGyver with a small flashlight propped up behind the steering wheel, aimed at the magazine in his lap. He probably could read only a quarter of the Spanish it was written in, but it was about sports and filled with scantily clothed women, so language barrier be damned! His attention was likely going to stay glued on that until MacGyver told him it was time to move.

MacGyver started to ask about the battle marks. Realizing he still didn't know what to say, he turned his attention back to the mansion. With the binoculars, he checked on the occupants.

A man in a tuxedo sat in an armchair in the great room. He kept anxiously glancing at his watch as he impatiently tapped his foot. He said something to one of the bulky bodyguards nearby, and the man left. MacGyver moved his view up to a bedroom. There was a woman in a black G-string and strapless bra in the bedroom trying to decide between two dresses. The sight was a bit too voyeur for MacGyver, and with embarrassment, he quickly lowered the binoculars. He continued watching the window, but at this distance, there wasn't enough detail to embarrass him.

"The wife still deciding on what to wear?" Jack asked.

"Yep. She has narrowed it down to the little red dress that _might_ cover her underwear and the little black dress that will show a lot of cleavage."

Exasperated Jack quietly complained, "Oh for crying out loud, lady! Just pick a damn dress already!"

Jack tossed the magazine on the dash. He switched off the flashlight and slipped it into his jacket. He slid down in his seat with a sigh. "The lady must think she's going to meet the Queen of England or something."

"She isn't meeting royalty in _those_ dresses, Jack," Riley quipped over their com earpieces.

"Are you two sure we can't just use that back gate?" Jack asked "We've had to climb fences on the last three missions, and I've torn three shirts. It's starting to get expensive!"

"Buy cheaper shirts just for missions," Riley suggested. "You don't need to wear Eton. You're not James Bond, you know."

"What the hell is an Eton?"

"You are so uncultured!" Riley laughed.

"I told you, Jack. That back gate only opens out, and messing with it will set off the security alarm." MacGyver sighed, looking at him. "Jack, what happened?"

"Where?" Jack sat up so he could see the mansion. "What did you see?"

MacGyver gave him a level stare when he looked back at MacGyver.

Jack slouched in his seat. "What are you talking about?"

"Who did you get into a fight with, Jack, and why."

Jack looked off down the road with a slight shrug. "No one. I-"

"You fell down some stairs and then ran into a door," Riley finished over the com. "I think it's safe to say that neither of us are buying that story. Just tell us who you got into a fight with. It was a girl, wasn't it? She weighed like 90 pounds, wet."

"It was a man and the thing was just... A misunderstanding," Jack told them.

"So the other guy was married to the woman you were hitting on?" Riley asked.

Jack sighed. "No, Riley! I don't date married women."

"Ya dated my mom."

"Your folks were legally separated," Jack reminded her.

"So why did you and the other guy get into a fight then?" MacGyver asked.

Jack shook his head. "Fine. Okay. I'll only tell you if you promise not to give me the third degree." He pointed at MacGyver.

MacGyver let out an exasperated sigh. "I _knew_ it! How much do you owe and to who?"

"Nope! Uh-uh. If that's the attitude you're going to have, I am not telling you anything," Jack said to MacGyver.

"What are we talking about?" Riley asked.

"Jack, _how_ much money did you lose, and _who_ do you owe it to?"

"I didn't lose much. It was just a horse race."

" _A_ horse race?" MacGyver was instantly suspicious. "Just _one_ horse race and you got the crap beat out of you?"

"I was on a role."

"A role for how many horses?"

"I dunno. Seven, maybe nine."

"You got a winning streak of nine horse races?" Riley asked. "How? That's, like, statistically-"

MacGyver cut her off. "How much do you owe, Jack?"

"I only lost on the last race."

"And if you got beat up that means whoever loaned you that money knew how much you lost on nine horses and was expecting a percentage, which you don't have, I'm sure. So _how_ much, Jack?"

"Enough."

"How much?"

Jack sighed. "Three hundred and sixty-five thousand."

"And who do you owe that to?" MacGyver asked at the same time Riley choked out, "Three hundred and sixty-five thousand!"

"Some people."

"Do not tell me it's that bookie from Atlantic City again. It was hard enough to convince him to back off the first time."

"No, it wasn't him. Besides, he's still in jail."

"Who then?"

Nonchalant, Jack asked, "Do you want to grill me on this or would you like to go down there and get that data tonight?"

"I do want to get the data, but-"

"Then duck." Jack dropped below the dash.

MacGyver looked down at the residence. A limousine was pulling out the front gates and turning in their direction. He ducked down below the dash and waited for it to pass. They sat up just enough to watch the limousine disappear down the road behind them.

"That just leaves two guards, one butler, and a maid, right?" Jack asked Riley.

"That's what the gardener told me. I think. My Spanish isn't that great," she answered.

Jack grabbed his gun and a flash drive from the middle console. He handed the flash drive to MacGyver.

MacGyver took the USB drive. "We are not done talking about this, Jack."

"Yeah, we are." Jack snapped his hand away and got out.

MacGyver got out and followed. Jack led the way down through lush growth to a fence. He reached out to grab the wire.

"STOP!" MacGyver whispered as Jack reached for the fence. "It's electrified. Riley, we need that power off."

Jack pulled back and waited.

The house went dark.

"They have a backup generator, but it's manual. You have five to ten minutes before the power comes back on. When it does, the alarm system and fence come back on too. Move it, guys," Riley told them.

The two scrambled over the fence and dropped down. They skirted the edge of the yard around to the back and crossed the lawn to a corner drain pipe. MacGyver started climbing, and Jack stayed close behind. They climbed up to a balcony with a set of French doors and dropped onto the balcony. MacGyver began working on the lock.

"If there's no power, how are we going to get data off the computer?" Jack asked MacGyver and Riley.

"It's has a backup battery," MacGyver answered. "It gives me ten minutes, more or less." The doors opened, and MacGyver trotted over to the computer. He wiggled the mouse to wake the computer. "Riley, what's the password?"

Across the com, she told him, "9rVcSwhv##."

He typed it in, slid the drive into a USB slot, found the files, and started copying them.

"Who do you owe the money to, Jack?" MacGyver asked.

"We're going to do this now?"

"Yes. Tell me."

"Why did I never know you gambled?" Riley asked Jack.

"He only gambles when he gets stressed out about a job," MacGyver told her. "and when he gets really stressed out, he takes giant, unnecessary, risks." MacGyver shot Jack a glare, "and then he expects me to bail him out."

Jack hissed. "I ain't asking you to bail me out!"

"Yet. You aren't asking, _yet_. The last time you owed money to people, they were going to kill you, and I barely made it in time to stop them."

"They won't kill me," Jack weakly replied, "I mean, I doubt they'll kill me. How would they get their money if I'm dead?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm convinced," Riley commented. "You're as good as dead, aren't you?"

Jack grimaced. "No. I'm not."

"Who do you owe?" MacGyver pressed. "Who do I have to convince not to kill you?"

"They don't want me dead. They just..." Jack hesitated. "I gotta do something for them, and then we'll be even."

"Judging from how this conversation is going so far, it's not legal, is it?" Riley asked.

Jack didn't answer, but his expression did.

"What illegal thing do you have to do to be even?" MacGyver asked.

"I should have just kept lying," Jack grumbled.

"Uh, guys-" Riley started.

"But you didn't," MacGyver bit back, "and now you owe someone who wants you to do something illegal and I'm going to have to bail you out, _again_."

Riley tried again to interrupt. "Guys, you're about to-"

"I did not ask you to bail me out of this, Angus!" Jack loudly bellowed. "I got along just fine before I met you, I can get along fine without you!"

As if responding to the sudden anger in the room, the power came back on. Along with an alarm to warn everyone left in the house that a window had been opened during the blackout.

Jack ran to the door and locked it, then stepped to the side. He cocked his sidearm and prepared to fight. MacGyver leaned over the keyboard, wishing the progress bar would go faster.

"Come on. Come on," MacGyver whispered.

The door rattled when someone tried to open it.

On the other side of the door, someone opened fire on the door. Jack turned away from the gunfire. MacGyver ducked behind the desk. A bullet struck the monitor, showering MacGyver with sparks and plastic shrapnel.

Jack started shooting as soon as the door was kicked open, and whoever was outside fired back.

"Riley, the monitor's gone," MacGyver told her. "I can't see if it's done copying or not."

"And that's why I put a little present on that drive so I could mirror the screen on my laptop. It's still copying and is at forty percent."

MacGyver smiled. "Tell us-" An enormous guard suddenly came charging around the desk and stopped, staring at MacGyver. "Aw... Hi?"

The man aimed his gun at MacGyver's head.

MacGyver grabbed the nearest object – a trashcan – and threw it at the man's face. Then he made a good attempted to tackle him, and failed impressively. The giant man didn't even step back. MacGyver stepped back to try again, which amused the giant.

 _ **Smiling giants are never a good!**_

The man dropped his gun and prepared for a fist fight. One that was clearly mismatched. With a war cry yell, he charged at MacGyver and threw him over the desk like a rug. MacGyver hit the floor, getting the wind knocked out of him. Before he could even grab a breath, the man was on him and pulled him up into a stranglehold. MacGyver kicked his feet and flung his arms around in an attempt to get ahold of the person. Realizing that was futile, he flopped his hands around to find anything to fight back with. When his hand found the desk lamp, he tried to hit the man over the head with it, only to discover that the electric cord didn't have enough slack. He started yanking and tugging on the lamp to free the cord from the outlet. Just as the world was starting to go dark and his ears began to ring, the plug jerked out of the outlet. He swung the lamp up and smashed it over the man's head.

MacGyver dropped to the floor, coughing and trying to catch his breath back. He could hear more gunfire and rolled over to get back to cover. The giant man unexpectedly landed on the floor right next to him, staring blankly at MacGyver while blood drained from the bullet hole in his forehead. MacGyver looked up, seeing Jack had shot the man. Another guard was on the floor just inside the door of the room, bleeding from several gunshots to the chest and throat.

Jack spun around to aim when a person ran into the room. It was the maid – a petite Venezuelan woman smaller than Riley, wearing a uniform that was rumpled and a little too small for her. She threw up her hands and began saying something that neither man understood, moving slowly into the room.

"It's okay. It's okay. Get out of here," Jack told her, motioning her to leave. He lowered his gun and turned.

MacGyver's stomach dropped when he saw the woman reach behind her and whip out a gun from the waistband of her skirt. The weapon looked gigantic in her tiny hands, but it was moving to aim at Jack's head. MacGyver leaped at Jack's legs and slammed into him with all his weight, just as the gun fired. The two rolled separate ways to take cover behind furniture. The woman shot where MacGyver had been. The bullet hit the computer, instead, sending sparks flying around the room. Jack popped around the chair he was hiding and fired back. She ducked behind a settee and returned fire.

Jack hastily switched out clips and fired back. MacGyver dodged around to the back of the desk. The computer was completely fried, but the USB looked like it was intact.

"Riley, the computer was shot."

"It was at 100% before it went down," Riley told him. "The drive should be okay. I hope."

MacGyver tried to get the flash drive out but was bit by electricity. He pulled his hand back into his shirt sleeve and yanked the drive out.

"Running out of bullets, Mac!" Jack told him. "We really need some of that eleventh-hour magic right about now!"

"Keep Annie Oakley busy just a little bit longer."

MacGyver rummaged through the desk, but he didn't find much. Standard office supplies, a couple ball point pens and a 9-volt battery. But it was enough to give him an idea.

MacGyver peeked around the desk. There was a wet bar directly across from Jack. He dashed over to Jack. Then he dashed over to the bar and grabbed a bottle of seltzer water and margarita salt. He dashed behind the desk and crouched down. He jumped to the side when two bullets came through the wood and went into the wall.

"Hurry up, Mac!" Jack yelled.

 _ **Not all seltzer water is made equal. Most of the time it doesn't have much in the way of minerals and impurities, bringing it closer to distilled water. Without minerals and impurities, however, water is the worst electrical conductor. I you dropped a hair dryer that was plugged in, into distilled water that had no impurities, and then were crazy enough to stick your hand in it, you probably wouldn't end up in the hospital, but you probably wouldn't forget it either. Drop that same hair dryer into tap water, full of minerals and impurities, and when you stuck your hand, if the shock the water was able to conduct didn't kill you, you'd likely wake up in the hospital. So I had to give this seltzer as much impurities as possible, because when I stuck a 9-volt battery in it, there wouldn't be enough of a shock in the purified water to do much. Add enough impurity to it, however, and the miniature stun bomb might shock the woman enough to drop her gun.**_

MacGyver uncorked the seltzer water and poured an obscene amount of salt into the water. He grabbed a rubber band from the desk and strapped the battery to the bottle. From the two pens, he pulled the springs, hastily straightened both, wrapped one around each side of the battery posts, and dropped the other ends into the water. He tested the weight of the bottle in his hand and then crouched at the edge of the desk.

"She'll be distracted for maybe thirty seconds, Jack. Make 'em count!" MacGyver called out.

"Go!"

MacGyver threw the bottle at the wall behind the woman. It shattered and sprayed water over her, along with a small electrical current. The jolt surprised her, causing her drop the gun. Jack lunged from his hiding spot, tackled her to the floor and punched her hard enough to knock her out. He got up and moved back, then looked up at MacGyver.

"I don't think she's actually a maid," Jack told him.

"Ya think?" MacGyver headed for the balcony.

"There's still the butler," Jack reminded him.

"He's gotta be in his nineties." MacGyver was already on the balcony.

"Yeah, but this little woman just pulled an Annie Oakley on us. He's bound to have his own tricks."

MacGyver stepped over the balcony railing and looked back at Jack. "Fine, stay, shoot it up. I'm leaving." MacGyver reached out, grabbed the drain pipe, and started shimmying down.

Jack jogged out to the edge of the balcony and followed. The two made their way through the back of the property to a gate. As soon as MacGyver entered the code, another alarm in the house went off. The men ran across the road into an alley. On the next street, they ran to a beat up van and climbed into the back. Riley was already behind the wheel and started driving before the back door was closed.

"Fine, stay, shoot it up?" Jack repeated. "You were going to just leave me there?"

"You don't need me, remember?"

"That's because you accused me of making you help me with this mess I'm in when I _never even asked you for help_."

"You will. You always do. Jack Dalton makes some crazy gamble and then expects Angus MacGyver to bail him out. You always do this to me."

"Not this time," Jack said through gritted teeth.

"You're right. Not this time!" MacGyver leaned toward him. "I am not enabling you anymore! You got yourself into this, you get yourself out. And you aren't sleeping on my couch when you end up losing your house, or your car, or the shirt on your back. It's _your_ problem." MacGyver walked to the front and sat down in the passenger seat, crossing his arms over his chest.

Riley glanced at him a couple times but kept silent.

"Good, because I wasn't asking for your help anyway!" Jack yelled.

"Fine!"

"FINE!"

And they stopped talking to each other. Riley glanced at MacGyver, back at Jack, then watched the road. She knew better than to get in the middle of a bro-fight. For now.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

 **LAS ANGELES**

MacGyver read a dossier as he walked through the halls. He glanced up when Riley trotted up and slowed to a walk next to him. She didn't say anything, even when he offered a smile, just stare at him. He knew she had something on her mind and waited for her to tell him. After a few minutes he realized she was waiting for him to offer to hear her out, and he had a good idea why that was.

"What's up, Riley?" he finally asked.

"When you gonna talk to Jack?"

MacGyver looked back at the dossier. "Stay out of this, Riley."

She stopped in front of him and pulled the dossier away. "You two have either been at each other's throats or leaving the room when the other shows up for four days now. You two need to talk this out. This morning, he and Thornton were at each other's throats, _again_. She was so mad she ordered him to work with the _janitors_ for the rest of today. He needs your help, Mac. Just… Just hear him out. You know, listen to him and stuff."

"If he wants to talk, I will listen, but that's on him." He took the dossier back.

"He is too proud and hurt to do that. You have to cave first."

"No." MacGyver walked around her. She kept up with him. "I am done enabling his gambling addiction and get rich schemes. When he realizes he needs my help – which he always does – I'll listen then."

"He's going to get himself fired because he's mad at you and taking it out on Thornton."

"That's his problem. I am not bailing him out."

"Look, Mac, I'm not asking you to bail him out. I'm asking you to just talk to him. Come on. You two are best friends. This fight is killing the team vibe. I work better when we have our easy-going vibe, and Jack thinks he's funny, and you're suave."

"You think I think I'm suave?"

"Yes!" She smiled.

He recognized her trap. "Flattery is not getting you what you want. He made this mess, he can clean it up."

They turned down the short hall leading to the 'war room' (Riley's new name for their meeting room), and she stopped in front of him. "Sometimes best friends can be the hardest to keep helping, but if you leave them when they need you the most, you risk losing them forever."

He tilted his head. "Sounds like you have some experience here."

She bobbed her head side to side, then said. "I've been the person that friends bailed on when I needed them most. I think that, you know, if you don't at least let him know that this doesn't change your friendship, you might regret it later. Obviously, he needs you to at least hear him out, to listen, because if I've pegged Thornton right, she's not going to put up with his behavior for much longer. And how will you feel if you didn't at least listen to him and that might have been all it took to keep him from getting fired?"

MacGyver stared at her. They both looked at the door when it opened.

Thornton stepped into the hall. "Are you two coming?" she asked.

"Be right there," MacGyver answered.

She went back inside. MacGyver looked at Riley.

"When we get back, I will talk to him."

"Promise?"

"Yes. I promise."

She smiled and gave him a playful slug to the shoulder. "Softy!" She pirouetted on her toe and headed into the meeting room.

MacGyver smiled and followed her. But his smile faded when he entered the meeting room. Jack and Thornton weren't talking, but if looks could kill, Thornton would be dead from the glare Jack was shooting at her. To most people, she looked calm, but MacGyver had known her long enough to know she was furious. They didn't seem to notice Riley or MacGyver until Riley cleared her throat. Thornton turned to the multiple screens on the wall. Jack leaned against one of the window metal frames and moved his glare to the screens.

Riley took a seat on the couch and MacGyver slowly walked over to the bowl of paperclips.

"This is Tomek Betzalel," Thornton began. She flicked something off the tablet she was holding and an image of a man appeared. "He's the third generation owner of the Catacoph diamond mine near Musina in South Africa. Last week, a shipment of diamonds was stolen while in route from his mine to his office in Antwerp."

"You want us to some guy's blood diamonds?" Jack asked. There was a snarky tone that he didn't attempt to hide.

She didn't look at him. "No. None of his are conflict diamonds, and his mine exceeds safety and health standards."

"Oh. So a supervisor who _listens_ to his employees, huh? Wonder what _that_ feels like."

Riley slowly looked up at Jack, then turned her head to look at MacGyver. He was unusually focused on folding the paperclip. She slowly looked up at Thornton. She was glaring at Jack. She tentatively cleared her throat, attracting everyone's attention.

"Dry throat," Riley lied to them.

Thornton focused on the screen and changed the image to a clothing storefront. "We were able to track the thieves to this clothing store. It appears to be a seven-man ring of thieves who have hit numerous other gem shipments over the years. We believe their using it as a front and using it to launder the money they get for their thefts." Thornton turned to the three. "Our intel says that they have a buyer coming in four days, you'll be there in two. You get in, get the jewels, and get out."

"Shouldn't we be, I dunno, taking them down instead of getting just a few diamonds back?" Riley asked.

"We're getting the diamonds back so INTERPOL has evidence to _legally_ shut them down," Thornton explained to her.

"What's the security like?" MacGyver asked.

"As far as we could tell security is low, but there is a vault at the back, and we were not able to obtain specs for it. A thermal scan showed it is at least five by six, so it's safe to say there will be a reinforced door."

MacGyver looked up from his paperclip art. "Sounds straightforward. Riley and I could probably take this one."

"Riley and you?" Jack asked. "You want me to sit this one out?"

"It's a storefront with low security and a vault, and she needs the field experience."

"That's _all_ your saying?"

"Yes. That's _all_ I'm saying."

"Are you sure?"

"What else would I be saying?"

"Maybe how you think I'm too incompetent for a simple heist? You know, like I am with my _bank account_."

MacGyver turned to Thornton for support on his suggestion.

Which he did not get when she told them, "I do not know what is going on with this team or why you're being so insubordinate Jack, but this will end. The three of you need to pull it together because you are _all_ going on this mission, and you leave in an hour. We are done!" She stormed out of the room.

"I'm part of this team, like or not, _Mac_ ," Jack snarled as he walked out of the room.

MacGyver turned to Riley. "Was it wrong to suggest you get some field experience with just one of us?"

She shrugged.

"Would you have minded if it had just been the two of us?"

She shook her head.

"He is being completely ridiculous!" MacGyver tossed his paperclip art on a table and left the room.

Riley looked down at the paperclip. MacGyver had bent it into a sword. It was not a comforting sign.

She told the room, "Oh this is going to be just a _fantastic_ mission."

/*/

MacGyver parked his Jeep and climbed out. He grabbed his bag from the back and headed for the private jet waiting on the tarmac. He trotted up the stairs and into the jet. Inside he found Riley sitting in a chair near the door with her laptop on her lap. She and the pilot were the only people on the plane.

"Where's Jack?"

"Beats me. Oh! Maybe he's getting more of his ass handed to him," she joked.

While she was amused by her own joke, MacGyver was not. He sat down in the seat across from her so he could see outside. Thornton was pacing just inside the hanger with her phone pressed to her ear. She stopped to tap her phone, tap it again, push it against her ear, and began pacing again.

"How long has she been trying to call him?"

"How do you know she's trying to call Jack?"

"Because he's late. He's always here before we are."

"I'm telling you, it's because he got his ass handed to him again."

MacGyver frowned at her. "This isn't funny, Riley. He has a problem."

"I use humor in intense situations and right now, working with the two of you has gotten absurdly intense."

MacGyver looked out as Jack pulled his car into the spot next to MacGyver's Jeep. He got out and grabbed a duffle bag from the trunk of his vehicle. When he turned, MacGyver shook his head. He had fresh cuts and bruises, and his knuckles were raw from a fist fight. He was holding an already bloody napkin to his nose. Jack marched up behind Thornton. She turned quickly and stared. Jack started in on her, which immediately exploded into a heated fight.

"He's going to be in a great mood this trip, isn't he?" Riley asked.

"Yeah."

Jack suddenly made a 'fine' signal with his hands and walked away. Thornton kept yelling at him, and MacGyver could read his lips saying, 'Whatever you say, boss lady!'

With sharp, angry, steps, Thornton disappeared into the hanger.

Jack entered the jet and turned to shut the door. "We're ready. Let's go!" he barked at the pilot, then muttered something incoherent.

He walked past the two and fell into a seat at the back, dropping his bag on the floor at his feet.

MacGyver and Riley stared at each other. She motioned at Jack with her head, trying to encourage MacGyver to talk to him. MacGyver shook his head. She motioned again. MacGyver more insistently shook his head. She frowned at him but didn't press. She put her earbuds in her ears and went back to work on her laptop.

The jet started moving and the trio were on their way to Antwerp on a mission MacGyver would have really liked to not be on.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

 **ANTWERP**

The tension inside the SUV was overwhelming. Riley sat in the back with her eyes glued to her laptop. MacGyver sat in the driver's seat, watching the store front. Jack sat stoic in the passenger seat, eyes straight ahead. Riley looked from the back of one man's head to the other, and then she sighed.

From the corner of his eye, MacGyver saw Jack's jaw tense. Riley shifted in the seat. In the silence, the vinyl crunched loudly. She sighed again.

"What?" Jack snapped, looking over his shoulder at her.

She looked up at him. "What?"

"Stop sighing like a hot air balloon."

"I'm not sighing like a hot air balloon."

"You are. Stop it."

"Man, if I was sighing I was just sighing. This is mind-numbing. These people won't leave. They must have some high stakes poker game in the back or something." She waved her hand at the storefront.

"Or something," MacGyver added.

"And what does _that_ mean?" Jack retorted.

MacGyver didn't say anything.

"Oh, come on now. You meant something by that."

"Yeah. I meant that they must be doing something in the back that probably isn't legal and I'm about ready to pull a fire alarm on them just to get them to leave."

"Wouldn't that call the fire department too?" Riley asked.

"Yes, but eventually everyone would go home."

"That doesn't sound like much of a plan."

"Because it's _not_ ," Jack replied. "We will sit here, we will wait, and you will stop sighing, Missy."

"Do not call me _Missy_."

Jack sneered.

She heaved a deep breath and audibly sighed. Jack turned to scold her, but she cut him off.

"We have time to kill. How about we deal with the elephant in the SUV right now?" she suggested.

"What?"

"Okay, so I get that you, Jack, apparently like to gamble when you get stressed out. And I get that Mac is tired of bailing you out. But come on, guys, this has got to stop! It's been a week that you two have been at each other's throats. Jack's been snapping at everyone and starting fights with Thornton. Enough is enough, guys. Talk it out, hug it out, whatever, just get this out of your system and let's get back to the way things were, because I'm getting stressed out and when I get stressed out I hack things, and if I hack anything, it's going to be to drain both of your bank accounts, and I won't give the money back until you two kiss and make up."

Both men slowly turned to stare at her.

"I probably could have worded that better, but you both get what I'm saying. This fight is stupid."

"I am not about bailing him out," MacGyver told them.

"I didn't ask you to bail me out."

"You're right, Jack," Riley said, "you haven't asked him to do that, but—"

MacGyver cut her off. "And you are hiding something."

"I am not hiding something."

"Then where have you been for the last three days?"

"What?"

"You didn't show up for work for two days, so the day before yesterday I went to your house. You weren't there, but that neighbor kid, Mario, he was mowing your grass. He said you'd been gone for four days, and had paid him to mow your lawn and watch Henry."

"Who's Henry?" Riley asked.

"My pet fish," Jack answered and then asked MacGyver, "Why were you checking up on me?"

"You have a pet fish?" Riley asked him.

"An ex gave it to me. Got a problem with that?" Jack turned an icy stare on her, silently daring her to challenge his choice of pets.

She raised her hands in surrender, not wanting to be the object of Jack's anger.

"Of course I was checking on you!" MacGyver said, answering Jack's previous question. "A week ago these people you owe three K to beat you up and you said they wanted you to do something that was likely illegal. You've been acting unusually angry and cagey for the last week, you're picking fights with Thornton as if you want to get fired, and you don't show up for work for three days. So I checked on you. That's what good friends do."

Jack scoffed and bellowed, "You wouldn't know how to be a good friend if it bit you in the ass!"

"VOICES!" Riley reminded them. "We're trying _not_ to draw attention to ourselves, _men_."

"I _am_ your best friend," MacGyver told him, "and I'm sure I'll end up bailing you out of this like all the other times you've drug me into your debts."

Riley saw that the store occupants leaving the store and almost told Jack and MacGyver. However, the people could hardly walk in a straight line and were laughing and joking. They did notice the three as they walked past, but apparently didn't care that two men were having a fight – probably a lover's spat in their eyes – in an SUV just a few doors from their store that housed stolen gems. She watched them get into their vehicles and almost hit other parked cars as they drove off. She turned back around and watched MacGyver and Jack as their fight grew increasingly hostile. It wasn't like she could do much else.

Jack shook his head. "Every time you say that you make me sound like some invalid! I can handle my own debts, Angus! I know how."

"Name one time you ended up in serious debt that I _didn't_ have to bail you out of. Name me _one_ , Jack, and you can consider this fight over."

Jack tried to answer. MacGyver raised his eyebrows.

"There have been plenty of times!" Jack protested.

"You can't remember one time, can you? You will gamble on anything, Jack, and each time you lose, I have to clean up. I'm tired of cleaning up after you!"

"I don't gamble on anything, just horses and dogs."

"Oh really?"

"Really!"

"You gamble on dogs, horses, cars, and sports games," MacGyver started. "That's just the obvious ones. Then there's the gamble you take on get rich schemes, which have cost you your savings countless times and your 401k."

Jack started to argue back and MacGyver cut him off. "Remember the whole tiny houseboat fiasco? Hm? And I ended up having to buy one just so you didn't lose your car that you put down as collateral for the loan on one. And I still can't sell it! And then there's Dalton Air. You didn't read the contract before you signed it, because it clearly showed that the previous named, Fly High, was in serious debt! You gave the guy all of your savings, named me as partner, and when he disappeared we _both_ almost ended up homeless!"

Jack's jaw developed a tick as MacGyver continued.

"Then there was that delivering packages around town with greyhounds. Remember how bad that went? And you almost lost your house _again_. Then there was the build your own airplane business that you were convinced was the most lucrative venture yet. You actually did lose your car in that one, and I had to pay twice what it sold for to get it back."

The tick settled into a sneer. Jack reached inside his jacket and took something from the inside pocket. He looked at his hands as he messed with what he had. MacGyver was too focused on his lecture to notice.

"One day you are going to find yourself in so much debt you'll lose everything. And if you keep borrowing money from all the wrong people, you'll end up _dead_! Jack, I—"

Jack lunged across the vehicle and grabbed MacGyver by the jacket. He yanked him close, glaring into his eyes.

"I do not need you to bail me out every damn time I get in trouble, Angus. I was doing _just_ fine before we met and I ended up being the one keeping you alive because you just can't use guns. And when you quit, I will go back to doing fine, no, I'll be great when you leave."

"You were not doing fine. We both know that. And what makes you think I'm quitting?"

"Because if you don't, _I will_. I am so done with you!" Jack leaned back into his seat.

MacGyver didn't move, just stare at Jack.

An uncomfortable quiet came over the SUV.

Riley waited, hoping that either of them would either start yelling or say something, but the men had apparently reached an impasse. She nervously cleared her throat, but neither reacted.

"I… Uhm… I really, _really_ , hate to interrupt, here, but the people left the store about fifteen minutes ago. Uhm…" She paused, hoping they'd take over, but that didn't happen. "Okay, so… I'll just wait, I guess." Riley stopped trying to talk.

Minutes passed that the men glowered at each other.

Finally, Jack said in a voice far too calm for the moment, "When this mission is over, I'm out. I never, ever, want to speak to you again, Angus."

"I am trying to help you," MacGyver told him, "and there isn't any reason for you to leave or for us to stop being friends."

"There are plenty of reasons. See, Angus, I may have a problem with gambling, but you don't know when people really don't want your help. You may be sick of bailing me out, but I can't take you interfering with my life anymore, or lying about checking on me because you're concerned all the time when really you just want to be controlling. You're basically just like a clinging girlfriend with a lot of baggage you keep shoveling off on me. You are so pathetic." Jack got out of the SUV. He pointed an angry finger at Riley. "You will stay in this car. You will not leave this vehicle for any reasons. Do you understand, young lady?"

She slowly nodded.

Jack slammed the door shut and walked down the street, heading for the alley that led to the back of the building.

MacGyver sat for several minutes. He was very tempted to let Jack do this on his own, just to prove that his friend couldn't pull off a mission by himself.

"He didn't mean all that, Mac," Riley said. "He's just mad."

"No. He meant it."

"I don't think so. I think… I don't know. I just think something is really off about all of this. Him being so angry about this gambling debt, for starters. And when you brought up that he had been gone for three days, I realized that during those days he never texted or returned my calls then. He just, sort of, disappeared for a while. And Thornton didn't—"

"Please stop, Riley."

She stopped talking for a moment, then leaned between the seats. "Remember, what I said about giving up on him when he needs you the most? I know what he said might have hurt, but… this is a two-person job. Maybe tonight isn't the best time to give up on him."

MacGyver closed his eyes for a moment.

 **It had been a long time since Jack and I had a fight, and this was perhaps our worst fight yet. Leaving him to do this alone, and prove he can't crack a vault without me, would be a good lesson. After all, it's a simple break in. But maybe there was some truth in what he said and if I ever wanted him to tell me what was really going on, I can't abandon him now.**

"Now look who's being suave," Mac said, smiling at her.

She returned it. "Go steal back stolen diamonds and we can sort this out on the way home. Okay?"

He nodded. "Yeah." MacGyver got out.

Jack didn't acknowledge MacGyver when he caught up. That left a slight sting, but MacGyver focused on the mission instead of the hurt.

The two walked up the alley to the back door of the store and stopped. Neither spoke for a moment.

"Since you're in a mothering mood, show me how to pick a lock," Jack snarled.

"Jack…" MacGyver stopped and just shook his head.

He reached into his pants pocket and pulled out his pocket knife. Quickly he unlocked the back door and stepped inside to the alarm keypad. MacGyver touched his earpiece.

"What's the alarm code, Riley?"

"8205713469."

The alarm disengaged when he tapped in the code and pushed a key with an unlocked padlock. Jack stepped inside with him and let the door close behind him. The two pulled out flashlights and walked through the back to where the vault was supposed to be. There was no vault door where the thermal scan indicated, only a wall.

"Fake?" Jack asked.

"Yeah." MacGyver shone his light on the carpet. "No drag marks. Might slide back. Start looking for a push panel or lever." MacGyver motioned to Jack's side.

"Because I wouldn't have thought of that myself," Jack snapped.

MacGyver inhaled and exhaled to maintain his calm.

The men searched the wall. Behind a statue, Jack found a camouflaged button that he pressed. The wall popped out. He easily slid it aside to reveal a bank vault door with a keypad.

"Riley, we have a numeric keypad. See if you can figure out what the owner might use for the code."

"That's like a thousand combinations."

"Give me a minute. I'll see if I can narrow it down."

"Copy that."

MacGyver went in search of fingerprint dust. He found a piece of chalk and a feather duster. MacGyver returned to the keypad. With his pocket knife he scraped chalk dust onto the keypad, and with the duster, he spread it across. The chalk revealed fingers had pressed five keys.

"The code will have a 1, 3, 4, 5, and 9," MacGyver told Riley.

"Five numbers?" Jack asked. "Can you figure out which five?"

"You only have 120 combinations to try. Easy, right?" Riley joked.

MacGyver almost smiled. "Right. And something tells that if I don't get it right too many times, we're not going to like what happens next."

"Like what are you thinking will happen?"

"Alarms, police, shooting."

"Right. Bad. I have the owner's birthdate, his kid's birthdate, anniversary, social identification number – is that like a social security number?"

"It's more than five numbers."

"Unless, of course, there's some in there that you have to use more than once."

"Are you trying to help or make this harder?" Jack asked her.

"I'm just saying," she told him.

"Say some other time. Let's focus on five."

"Fine. Okay, um… Try this, 3-14-59. Damn, he's old!"

MacGyver entered the number, and there was a beep. 'Error' appeared on the screen.

"Next."

"Kid's birthdate. 5-31-95."

MacGyver tried it. The error appeared, and then a one flashed.

"I think we only have one more chance to get this right before we get someone's attention."

"Anniversary or house number."

MacGyver and Jack thought.

"How many wives has he had?" Jack asked.

"This would be… Number five."

"House number," Jack and MacGyver said together.

"It is 9413 on Fifth Street."

MacGyver took a breath and then tapped it in. The men held their breath for the two seconds it took the keypad to go dark and the vault to unlock. They both let out a sigh of relief.

Jack pushed the door open, and the men entered the vault. The shelves were lined with locked bank boxes.

"No one mentioned we'd have to figure out which lock box it was in," Jack grumbled. "This is going to take forever."

MacGyver noticed that each had a number on it.

"Riley, how much time do we have?" Jack asked.

There was no reply.

"Riley?" Mac called out.

Still, there was no reply.

"The vault must be blocking the radio signal," MacGyver told him.

"Did you think I wouldn't figure that out on my own, too?" Jack asked.

MacGyver resisted snapping back at him and walked back into the office outside of the vault.

Jack joined him, asking over the com, "Ri, how much time do we have?" Jack asked.

"The security runs a systems check around midnight, so you have an hour and fifteen minutes before you have to turn it back on. Why?"

"Maybe we should turn it on now," Jack suggested.

"Can't do that. This one has motion sensors in the front and back two offices. I don't have the code to make changes to turn that off. What's going on?"

"We've got no com signal inside the vault, there's a few hundred bank boxes, and we don't know which one it is. Look, if anyone shows up, get out of here. We'll meet back at the warehouse, okay?"

"You want me to _leave_?" she asked at the same time MacGyver asked, "She's our ride back, Jack."

Jack looked at him. "We can get out of this, she's not trained to. If any company shows up, she'll be safer if she jets."

MacGyver hesitated. It wasn't like Jack to ask their eyes and ears to leave, but there was logic to his argument.

"He's right, Riley. We'll let you know when we're out and leaving, but if anyone shows up before then, leave."

"I don't know guys. I—" She didn't sound convinced.

"Riley, promise you'll leave," Jack told her.

"I'll promise to stay in the SUV if you two promise not to kill each other in the vault."

Neither gave her that promise.

"We should look around for a list of the boxes," MacGyver suggested, "and figure out which one it is."

"You do that," Jack told him. He walked back to the vault door, but stopped just inside, looking back at MacGyver. He pulled a small drill out of his pocket. "Since I'm just the stupid muscle around here, I'll start popping locks. Unless you think, I can't handle _that_ , too."

As tempting as it was to come back with something equally degrading, MacGyver just turned and started looking for a list. He heard Jack start to drill a safety deposit box, there was a pause, then he started on another…

MacGyver began searching the office he was in. He turned to the desk computer and woke it up. He stared at the password screen for a few minutes and then tried several of the passwords that Riley had thought were for the vault. It unlocked with the owner's home address. He opened the documents folder and scanned the names. One of the spreadsheets had a promising filename, and he opened it – BINGO! He quickly cracked the code – the first column was the last name of the person or business the gems were stolen from. He found the Betzalel linked to box number 614. MacGyver ran back into the vault and started on the other side of the vault.

"Do you have 614 over there, Jack?"

"No," Jack answered.

MacGyver kept looking with his flashlight and finally found it. "Got it." He put his flashlight in his mouth and pulled his pocket knife out. He quickly unlocked the box and found a felt bag of diamonds inside. Tomek Betzalel's logo was pressed into the bag.

"Got them," MacGyver told Jack.

He took the flashlight out of his mouth as he turned. And found Jack holding a handful of loose rubies. All the boxes he'd been drilling were open, and the ones that MacGyver could see inside were empty – and he was positive that they had contained stolen gems before they'd been broken open.

"What… Are you doing, Jack?" MacGyver asked.

Jack offered a wistful smile as he put the rubies back in the bag they had been in, and in the box he'd take them out of. "I wasn't sure if these were them."

"We were here for diamonds, not rubies, and you knew that. So why did you have those rubies in your hand?"

Jack sat his screwdriver down on a shelf. He didn't look ashamed or guilty. It was his poker face, the one he used when he was facing down an enemy. And MacGyver knew why he would do that. He had he pocketed thousands, if not millions, of gems. Was this the illegal thing the people Jack owed money to had asked him to do to pay his debt off?

"Jack, who do you owe money to, and what exactly did they want you to do to pay them back?"

"You go on and I'll clean up in here."

"Jack, those boxes had uncut gems in them, and they're empty now. Did you really think you could steal them and pay off your debt? Do you really think people who would ask you to do this would just let you walk away? You have got to know they're lying to you if they said you'd be even after turning traitor like this."

Jack didn't answer. He did, however, reach in his coat and pull his gun out. MacGyver tensed with sudden uncertainty. Why did he feel nervous being alone in the vault with Jack? Jack wouldn't hurt him. Would he? How desperate did a man have to become before he would steal gems and shoot his best friend if he tried to stop him?

"Hand me those diamonds, Mac, and let's get out of here," Jack said, holding his hand out for the bag that MacGyver held.

Something about the tone of Jack's voice put MacGyver even further on edge.

"Why don't we just get out of here. Without the gems, you're trying to steal. I'll hold onto these diamonds until we see Thornton."

"Give me the diamonds. I _need_ those jewels, Mac."

"No."

Jack aimed his gun at MacGyver. "Give them to me now."

Riley suddenly appeared at the vault door, panting from running.

"We have company. Lots and lots of company," she told them. "Jack, why are you aiming your gun at Mac?"

"I told you to leave if someone showed up, Riley," Jack said her without taking his eyes off MacGyver.

"I never promised. What is going on in here?"

"Yeah, Jack, what is going on?" MacGyver asked him. "And why aren't you surprised that we have company?"

"Just give me the diamonds, Mac."

MacGyver retreated a step instead. Jack rushed at MacGyver, who retreated until he was pinned against the shelves. He stared icily at MacGyver with his gun pressed against MacGyver's chest.

"Jewels. _Now!_ "

"No."

"Do not make me do this, man!"

"I am not giving you the diamonds. I won't help you steal for whoever you owe money to. Just put the gun down, let's get out of here, and we'll figure this out, Jack. You haven't done anything that can't be forgiven."

Jack patted MacGyver's chest with his free hand. "I haven't done anything that can't be forgiven – _yet_."

MacGyver heard a soft sound when the gun was fired and felt a sharp pain in his chest. The world began to swim, and he heard Riley scream. Then the world tilted, and he was on the floor.

Jack grabbed the bag of jewels from MacGyver's hand, then turned and grabbed Riley's arm.

"Let me go!" she screamed as she tried to pull free.

He pressed his gun to her throat. "You want to be next, Riley?"

She froze and began to cry. "Who are you?" she whispered.

"Move and keep your mouth shut." He marched her to the back door and stopped at the alarm pad.

They heard the front door open. He tapped in the code and armed the alarm. The burglar alarm started blaring. Jack shoved Riley through the back door and drug her into a run.

Three men burst out the back door and opened fire at the two. Jack yanked Riley's arm as they rounded a corner, dragging her into a jam-packed street. They quickly lost their pursuers in the crowd.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Riley wanted to tell anyone that the man walking behind her was a murderer and had kidnapped her, but Jack reminded her every few steps that he had a gun in his coat pocket by jabbing it into her back. She glanced back at him and the flip phone he kept looking at. Every so often he'd stop someone and ask them where the address on the phone was. The last person told him two blocks and to the right.

"Where are you taking me?" Riley demanded.

"Just keep walking," Jack answered.

"I can't believe you shot Mac. He was your best friend!"

"Shhh," Jack muttered, "Everything is okay. Trust me."

She scoffed. "Like hell everything is okay! I will never trust you again."

He didn't comment. They turned the corner, and he headed her toward a hotel. "When we get in here, you will be friendly, and you will _smile_. Nothing is wrong. Got it?"

"Whatever."

He jabbed his gun in her back. "Got it?"

"Or you'll shoot me too?" Riley hissed.

"Yes."

Riley swallowed. She hadn't expected that answer, but she believed him. She couldn't stop replaying MacGyver's murder over and over in her mind. She didn't hear the gun go off, but she saw a small flash of light. The look of surprise and betrayal on MacGyver's face as he collapsed on the floor. When Jack stood up with the bag of diamonds, there was a small blood stain on MacGyver's where the bullet had killed him. She had the horrible feeling she would see her friend's death for the rest of her life!

The two walked into the foyer and stopped at the front desk.

Jack smiled at the brunette behind the desk. "Hi."

"Hello," she said. She had a very distinct Dutch accent.

"Can we get a room for three nights?" Jack told her.

Riley looked back at Jack, surprised by the number of nights.

"Credit card, please," the woman told him.

He fished out his wallet and Riley felt the gun move away from her back. She started to step sideways, but he handed Riley his wallet as his hand came down on her shoulder.

"My arthritis is acting up, kiddo. Do you mind? Give her the MasterCard."

Riley glanced at him as she took the wallet. He smiled at her, telling the lady, "My step-daughter and I thought we could get some bonding time in before she headed to Paris for college."

"That sounds delightful," the woman said with a bright smile.

"It has been, hasn't it, honey?" Jack asked Riley.

"Yeah. Great fun." Riley didn't try to sound enthusiastic.

The woman ran Jack's card and handed him the receipt to sign.

"She can sign for it. My hands are hurting something fierce tonight. Must be the humidity."

"My father's hands act up when the weather turns cold and wet," the woman told him.

Riley signed the receipt. The woman gave her the card back, and she handed Jack his wallet. When he didn't take it, she looked back and saw he was looking out the front doors. She turned her head to look outside.

The men that had chased them from the store had parked two SUVs across the street and were getting out.

"I knew it," Jack whispered.

She looked at him when Jack turned around suddenly. He looked terrified, but he smiled when the woman looked up at him.

"Don't mean to rush you," Jack told the lady, "but I really need the restroom. Can we get our room key?"

She ran two room cards through a machine and handed them to Riley. "Room 615. Have a good stay, Mister Luther."

Jack pulled on Riley's shoulder with one hand as the pressure from the gun returned to her back. He aimed her toward the elevators and pushed her into a fast walk. The two managed to catch an elevator car as the doors started to close and they were the only two in the car.

"Push six."

Riley did. "Why did she just call you Mister Luther?"

"That's the name on the card."

"As in Jack Luther?"

"Lex Luther."

"Like… Superman's Lex Luther?"

"Riley…" It sounded like he planned on saying something else but settled for, "Sure."

"So you're using a fake identity too?" Riley flexed her jaw a few times. "Do we even know who you really are? Does Thornton?"

The doors opened. Jack pushed her ahead at a fast walk until they reached room 615.

"Open the door."

She used a card to do that. He pushed her inside and over to the desk. He pulled the desk chair out and then rearranged the desk, so it was in a corner with one end facing the room. He pushed the back of the chair up against the end.

"Pull the sheet off the bed."

She looked at the two full beds. "Which one?"

"It doesn't matter. Just grab one."

She pulled the bed sheet off. He slid his gun inside his jacket and took out a large switchblade. He cut four slits in the top of the sheet and handed it back. "Tear those into strips."

She shot him daggers but obeyed. Jack walked around the room and cut the cords off three lamps and the clock radio. She didn't say she was finished tearing the bedsheet up, but he saw it.

"Tie that chair to the table. If it's not secure, you're doing it again."

She obeyed, tying the chair tightly to the desk.

"Sit down." He motioned to the chair.

She fell into the chair, slouching.

"Sit up. You'll get a backache sitting like that."

She narrowed her eyes. "What?"

"Sit up, Riley."

She slowly sat up. Jack crouched down and tightly tied her wrists and ankles to the chair. Jack put his knife away and placed his gun and flip phone on a nightstand across the room. He returned to her and crouched. Jack laid his hands on her arms as he looked her in the eye.

"Don't touch me!" she snapped and tried to pull away, but he'd bound her tightly to the chair. She settled for a snarl and eyes narrowed from hate. "You killed your best friend and all he was trying to do was help you get out of this mess!"

"Mac is not dead, Riley. I made it look like he was shot for those people that chased us."

"Liar!"

"I am not lying, kiddo. I'm on a mission, and it is falling apart fast! I suspected that before we left Las Angeles because these people showed up at my house, beat the crap out of me, and threatened to kill you and Mac. But nothing in the fake file on me mentioned you. They found out somehow." He squeezed her arms. "I did not kill Mac. He's fine. Please, tell me you believe me, Ri."

She didn't answer, but she was full of doubt. What was the truth?

He smiled and took his hands off of her. "Okay, you can't believe me right now. I probably wouldn't be able to either if I were in your shoes, either. When I used the credit card, it sent a flag to Thornton, and they'll be here soon to get you. You have to tell her that my cover is blown, and I need Mac to get me out of this disaster. Can you at least do that, kiddo?"

She slowly nodded.

"I know better than to tell you to stay behind when Mac leaves, you'll just ignore me. So at least promise me that you will listen to him and do exactly what he tells you to do."

She didn't answer.

"Please, Riley. I have to know you'll be safe, or I won't be able to…" His voice cracked when his eyes watered. "Please, Riley."

"You're scared?"

He nodded.

"Then don't finish this. Stay with me until help gets here."

"Someone has to stop these people. I volunteered to be that someone, kiddo."

She closed her eyes when tears started falling. She looked at him again. "I promise to do what Mac says," Riley answered, "I swear it."

"That's my girl!" He stood up and kissed the top of her head. "See you before you can miss me." He headed for the door.

She suddenly remembered that saying. He had recognized how hard this thirteen-year-old kid took abandonment and that saying goodbye, even just to go to the grocery store, was painful. So he'd made up this game to make leaving easier for her.

"Jack," Riley called out.

He stopped at the door, his hand on the door handle. "Yeah?"

"But what if I miss you before then?"

He turned his head, with a smile that lit up his face. "You'll have five more shots until I'm back."

She returned his smile. "Don't make me waste my 'miss you' bullets."

"Watch me out run 'em, kiddo." And he was out the door.

Riley burst into tears.

/*/

Jack ran up two floors and then headed for the elevator. He jabbed the call button a couple of times, waiting impatiently for the car to arrive.

A gun barrel pressed under his right ear, and he froze.

"Hello, _Lex Luther_ ," someone with a Latin accent said.

"Hi," Jack answered.

"You stole something that doesn't belong to you."

"No. I didn't. These other people showed up and tried to steal the diamonds from me. I told you that I would get the jewels and we were supposed to meet with your boss."

The elevator door opened. Two men walked past Jack and took positions in either corner.

"Get on."

Jack did. Two more men took positions in front of him, and the one with the gun still held to his head stood next to Jack. The man behind him reached around Jack and took the bag of jewels from his jacket pocket. Then he reached in and pulled out a handful of more gems.

"I took more so I could settle up our debt. Pay if off," Jack explained.

The man smiled as he pocketed the gems. "Did you really think that a spy could pay off his debt with gems?"

"I'm not a spy. I'm a janitor."

"You're Jack Dalton, an operative of the Phoenix Foundation, and you killed your partner in the vault. Did you kill that tech you kidnapped too?"

Jack stared at him. There really wasn't any point in playing this game any longer. He knew his only hope was MacGyver coming to his rescue. Buying time might prove challenging, considering how the other operatives they caught had been sent back. "Yes. She was slowing me down," Jack answered.

The man smiled again. "You don't lie well."

Jack didn't say anything.

"My boss is looking forward to having a lengthy conversation with you about what you know."

"Oh. Will there be whiskey?"

"No. There will be pain. _Lots_ of it."

"I'm more of a talker when there's whiskey."

The man smirked.

The doors open and the people walked Jack out of the hotel.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

It felt like an uphill struggle against an avalanche as MacGyver tried to find his way back to consciousness.

He tried to open his eyes, but that was too much effort. He slipped in and out of consciousness, trying each time to open his eyes. He was aware of being jostled and moved, but maybe that was just a dream. He heard voices but decided they were in his mind.

He couldn't comprehend how disjointed and manic his thoughts really were – save one. _Jack shot me_. No matter how far into insanity his thoughts dove, he kept returning to that thought.

A voice said his name, "Angus, can you tell me your age?"

It was clear and distinct, with a thick Dutch accent. He opened his eyes to slits. He could see blurry blobs, but to his confused mind, the blobs might as well be blot test cards.

Someone said, "Mac. He prefers…"

He closed his eyes, and the voices in his head went silent. He returned to his fragmented thoughts until he felt pressure on his hand. He thought someone was holding his, but it felt wrong. Even with the pressure his hand – both of his hands – felt like they were balloons floating above him. He slipped back to unfeeling.

Suddenly he heard voices, and they weren't in his mind. He felt someone holding his wrist. Next to him someone was finishing speaking, "…will be here in ten minutes with her."

"But she's okay otherwise?" a woman asked.

"Yes," the first person said.

"Has his tracker come back online?"

"No, ma'am. We still haven't located it."

"How much longer do we have to wait?"

"Four more hours, ma'am."

For a moment no one spoke. "Bring her to me when they arrive."

"Yes, ma'am."

The pressure on his wrist lifted. "His pulse and O2 are stable," another voice said. It sounded very similar to the one that had said his name before. "Madam, he really needs to be at the hospital. He's been unconscious for too long."

"Give him another hour."

"Madam, he—"

"One more hour."

Silence, then the voice told her, "Very well. But only one more hour."

"Thank you," she said.

MacGyver opened his eyes. He could make out the form of a person walking away toward other blobs that might be people, or ants, or aliens, or—

"Hey, Mac," the woman said.

He started to close his eyes.

"No, no." A hand squeezed his shoulder. It wasn't painful, but it was very firm. "You have to wake up, Mac."

He stared at the moving blobs, lost in his thoughts again. He started to close his eyes.

"Mac, I know it's difficult, but if you don't wake up, the paramedics are going to take you to the hospital. I know how much you hate that place, so you have got to shake the sedative off. Come on. You can do this."

Now he recognized the voice. "Patricia."

"Yes."

MacGyver sighed. He didn't want to actually wake up because that would mean he'd have to face a dreaded reality – his best friend shot him for a handful of diamonds. He gritted his teeth. He rarely cried, but this was a betrayal he couldn't stomach. He wanted to disappear to his Grandpa's cabin for days, free to melt down in isolation. Jack had been his best friend! How could Jack betray him like this? It was Niki all over again.

"He shot me, Patty. Jack… He shot me, and he kidnapped Riley, and he… _shot me_."

"No, he didn't," she told him.

MacGyver opened his eyes to slits again. "Yes, he did. He—"

"Jack shot you with a tranquilizer gun and exploded a ketchup packet under your shirt to make it look like you were bleeding. He did, however, give you too much sedative. I told him to ask you your weight instead of using what was on file. He always has to do things the hard way.

MacGyver had his eyes opened before she finished talking and was staring at her. She sat in a folding chair next to his cot, leaning over so she could keep eye contact with him.

He looked past her, recognizing that they were in a warehouse. There were tables with computer equipment and papers. Dozens of people wearing jackets and vests with INTERPOL, POLITIE, DEA, and FBI printed on them worked around the tables. Some spoke in English, while others spoke in Dutch or German. They were all slanted – wait, no, he was slanted. He was lying down on something that was just off the floor.

MacGyver quickly sat up and immediately regretted that decision. The warehouse went into a tilting, swirling, tailspin. Vertigo made him so nauseous that he felt the urge to vomit coming fast.

"Lay back. Lay down," Thornton said. She grabbed his shoulders and eased him back on the cot he was on.

Time seemed to crawl before his nausea and vertigo passed. "What is going on?" MacGyver asked. "What is _really_ going on?"

"A South American cartel moved into Antwerp eighteen months ago, and INTERPOL and the police have been trying to shut them down, but they weren't getting anywhere. They sent in seven operatives, but each was sent back in pieces. The thieves that stole Betzalel's diamonds were real, but INTERPOL received intel that this cartel was planning on stealing the stolen diamonds to trade for more guns. That's when they approached the Phoenix Foundation about partnering in a joint operation. This same cartel has some business in Los Angeles area, including lending money to desperate people. When those people can't pay back their debts, they are forced to work for the cartel. Because of Jack's experience working undercover with these types of individuals, and his well-documented gambling habit, I asked him to go undercover. He borrowed a lot of money from one of their loan sharks and lost all of it. Getting him into debt with them was the easy part, and they wanted him to smuggle drugs from Mexico."

"How did he end up in that vault stealing the diamonds for these people?"

"Well, the smuggling job went wrong on purpose, and the drugs were confiscated at the border. When you saw him first beat up, it was because he'd lost their drugs. He told them he was better at stealing than smuggling. Then we faked that he and one other person won an all-expense paid trip to Antwerp, and they seemed to bite. They told him to steal the diamonds, and that's when things lit up as they started checking his backstory. They beat him up again before you three left and threatening to kill you and Riley if he didn't do the job right. He said they were going to let him steal the diamonds alone and then meet him, but they showed up at the store."

"Was he supposed to fake shoot me in the vault too?"

"Yes. He decided that was the best way to get these people off of you. Riley, however, was not supposed to be in there. He was sure that if you two were fighting enough, she'd just stay in the car like she'd been told. He apparently doesn't know her very well."

"Where is Riley now?"

"Safe. We'd arranged a safe location and a flag. He set off the flag, and when agents arrived, she was there."

MacGyver sat up much slower this time. The vertigo was not as intense.

"Where is Jack now?"

"We're not sure. His tracker went dead two blocks from the hotel."

"I should have been brought in on this mission. I should have his back right now. Jack would never willingly ditch a tracker; they know who he is, Thornton. I need to go after him. Where—"

"Jack is fine. You will wait here."

"Jack is not _fine_ ," Riley snapped back.

The two looked up. She stood a few feet from them and looked worried.

"And," Riley added, "he's scared, and he said he needs Mac to come after him because his cover is blown."

"He told you he was scared?" Thornton asked.

Riley didn't answer.

MacGyver suddenly remembered the fights between Jack and Thornton. "You two weren't fighting to sell the cover to us; you two were fighting because Jack thought his cover was blown and he wanted us looped in to provide backup."

Thornton didn't immediately answer. "It only came up twice. The other times was to sell his cover."

"If you were so confident that he could pull off an undercover mission, then why would you question him if he felt his cover was blown? He reads people, he knows what they're thinking. Why would you ever question that?"

She hesitated again. "He thought his cover was blown before you three went to Caracas, but that proved to be untrue. If they knew who he was, they wouldn't have agreed to let him steal the diamonds."

"If they know who he is, of course they would have let him steal the diamonds! They would know that he had the skills and means to do the job, and he would do it to maintain a cover. And then, once they got what they wanted, they'd have a spy they could try getting information out of. Or send back in pieces like the all those other agents to send _us_ a message!"

"And you don't know that anything you just said is what's really happened, either," Thornton told him. "For all you know, he's made friends with everyone in the cartel and is gathering intelligence right now. If you go running in there, you will absolutely blow his cover."

"You can't possibly believe that! He tried, twice, to tell you his cover was blown and he told Riley to tell us that he wanted me to go in and get him," MacGyver insisted.

"You are _not_ going after him," Thornton told them as she stood up. "Jack has been in situations like this before, and he came back. You two will not blow his cover by overreacting."

"Maybe you're not overreacting enough!" Riley snarled.

Thornton ignored Riley's reaction as she stood. "Jack has done undercover missions before. He will be okay. You are both staying here and waiting. Understood?" Thornton looked from one to the other.

Neither answered her.

"Am I understood?"

They nodded.

"There's another cot, Riley. Both of you get some rest. When I hear anything, you two will be the first to know." Thornton walked away and joined a group of INTERPOL and Dutch policemen.

Riley quietly told MacGyver, "We gotta go after him, Mac. He was scared. I've never seen Jack scared. _Never_."

"We are. But first, we have to figure out where he was taken. What do you need to do that?"

She looked around the room. "A laptop and some time to hack INTERPOL's servers."

He looked over his shoulder at the second cot. "Move those cots over there by those crates, where it's dark, and then get some coats and blankets. We'll need to make Thornton believe we're still here."

"How are we getting out of here with all these police, INTERPOL, FBI, and Thornton watching us?"

He looked up. She slowly looked up, staring at the rafters overhead. She looked down, meeting his eyes.

"You've got to be kidding me."

"Normally, I'd use a distraction, but they _are_ Jack's support. I can't risk compromising his lifeline if he can get a call out for help. That leaves up and over the only option I see."

She stared at him for a moment, then nodded. "Good thing heights don't bother me."

"Go make some fake people on cots, and then meet me behind the crates."

MacGyver walked toward equipment, keeping an eye on the people as he circled around to a laptop that no one was watching. He quickly pulled the power cord and tucked the cord and laptop under his shirt, then headed for a pile of ropes. He teased out a short rope and then disappeared behind the crates.

Riley moved the cots over to the dark area. She gathered blankets and jackets, and made them look like she and MacGyver were asleep. Then ducked behind the stack of crates to join MacGyver.

He was tying the rope around the laptop and cord for a makeshift pack. He turned and held it open for her arms. Riley slipped her arms in. He used a piece of rope to tie it against her back.

"Ready?" he whispered.

She looked at the rafters high overhead. "No. Let's go."

The two started up the crates, freezing anytime someone came near. They got to the rafters and climbed onto a beam. MacGyver saw a catwalk not far down that led to a fire escape door and, with luck, stairs. He pointed at it, and Riley nodded. The two carefully made their way across to the catwalk. MacGyver reached it first and turned to help her on. Riley took two quick steps and catwalk vibrated. He motioned her to go slow.

They crept across the warehouse while keeping an eye on the people below – in particular Thornton. At one point she walked toward the cots, but seemed convinced the two were sleeping, and returned to working with INTERPOL and the police.

MacGyver and Riley finally reached the door and slipped out onto a fire escape. They hurried down the stairs and dropped off the last rung of the ladder. MacGyver motioned her to follow and led to the car furthest from a door. He tested all the doors, but none were unlocked. There were no visible locks on the door, meaning it was electric. He popped the hood and found the fuse box. After fiddling with the fuses for a few minutes, the doors popped open and the engine started.

"Get in," MacGyver whispered.

Riley jumped into the passenger seat. MacGyver slid behind the wheel, and they drove off.

She glanced back to make sure they weren't followed. She pulled the laptop off her back and opened it. It didn't take her long to figure out the password and start typing.

"Love this city," she said.

"Oh?"

"WiFi, WiFi, everywhere there's WiFi."

MacGyver smiled, but it was short lived. "Hurry up. I doubt he has a whole lot of time."

"Working as fast as I can." She looked at MacGyver. They'd been in a lot of tight spots, but this was the first time she had seen him appear so anxious. "We'll find him in time, Mac. I promise."

He didn't reply. She went back to finding where their friend was being held.

/*/

A punch to the abdomen made Jack double over and grit his teeth from the pain. He slowly sat back in his chair, glaring at the man beating on him. It was one of the men who had escorted him in the elevator, and he was enjoying this beat down a little too much.

Jack's clothes were shredded. His face was puffy, and one eye was swollen shut. Blood dribbled from his mouth, nose, and ears. There wasn't a part of his body that wasn't in pain or felt broken. But he wasn't telling them anything – mostly because he hoped that by not saying anything the beatings would last longer and buy MacGyver time he needed to save him.

"Tell me when Tomek Betzalel will be sending another delivery to Amsterdam," his assailant demanded.

Jack really didn't know the answer, but he was too angry and stubborn to keep his mouth shut. "It'll be here the fifth Tuesday of next year."

That earned him another punch to the gut. He coughed and spit out blood.

"Who told you how to get into the vault?"

"Your mom. In bed." Jack grinned.

The grin earned him a punch to the right cheek with the full force of the man's iron knuckles. It felt like the whole side of his face exploded in pain, and he heard something crack. The force threw him from his chair, and he couldn't catch himself with his arms tied behind his back. He landed hard on his shoulder, jamming it into the cobblestone basement floor. Hands grabbed him and drug him to his feet. He was thrust back onto a table, and a cloth was thrown over his face.

Jack closed his eyes as tight, knowing what was coming next. Water, lots of it, and he was going to feel like he was going to drown. He had never wished had for MacGyver to come to his rescue.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

MacGyver slowed the stolen car to a stop on the street. He and Riley sat for several long minutes, staring at the centuries-old castle.

 **Built in the early seventeen hundred, this castle had seen a lot of battles, and blood and there are only two apparent ways inside. By air, which we don't have. Or by crossing the bridge over the moat and through a massive gate with turrets on either side. And I'd bet that those turrets aren't armed with archers, but men with machine guns that would kill us before we got inch onto that bridge. But, one thing many castles had in common was they had been renovated, and if I looked hard enough, I bound to find a way in that the cartel was least expecting.**

"So…" Riley started to say. "What's the plan here?"

"Not sure yet. Are the blueprints for it digitized?"

She sat back and started typing again. "Yep. Take a look." She held the laptop so he could see the blueprints with her. "There's a few here. Which one do you want to look at?"

"One that was from at least ten years ago, and the most recent."

She pulled up two plans.

"What's this?" she said, pointing to a spot on of the older of the two blueprints.

"Sewer, maybe?" MacGyver answered. He switched to the newer plans. "It was replaced six years ago, though. Even if they weren't in use, they'd be too narrow to crawl through. What else?"

"Well, this maybe leads here to this… Whatever that says in Dutch."

MacGyver looked over the area. "It's an unground tunnel…"

"Great! A way in!"

"It leads to the dungeon, which was sealed off in 1902."

"Couldn't you blow it open or something?"

"If I wanted everyone in the castle and the surrounding three miles to know. That mark there says the concrete is three feet thick."

"Right. Next."

MacGyver pointed to another line. "Zoom in on this. Is that an old water main?"

"This note on the newer one says it was sealed in 1968." She pointed at the note.

MacGyver kept looking.

"This looks like a hole here on the side of the castle," she said, pointing to the spot. "Can you read this?"

"No. But… I think that's a latrine."

"Wait, do you mean like latrine as we know it today or latrine like an outhouse that's built inside the castle making it an… 'in-house,' I guess?"

"The outhouse that's inside version."

"Why does it open into the moat?"

"Back before plumbing, when you did your business, it went into the moat."

"Ohhh. Well, maybe it's still a good way in."

"I'd have to swim across the moat."

"It's a sunny day out."

"In winter. And there are guards."

"We're running out of options, Mac."

She was right. He looked at the castle. This latrine was at the back of the castle, where a forest grew right up to the edge of the moat. He might be able to swim across undetected.

"When I see you two, there _will_ be consequences," both heard Thornton say.

They looked down the laptop screen. Thornton's face had taken up the entire screen, and she was not hiding how angry she was. Behind her, they could see the warehouse and there was a frenzy of activity.

"Hi," Riley said with an awkward smile and slight wave. "We're just… sightseeing. Aren't we, Mac?"

"Yes. Since we're here, we decided to sightsee," he lied.

"You're sightseeing, huh? With a stolen laptop that someone used to hack into INTERPOL's network and pull up files about Jack and the cartel? And you're both sightseeing in a stolen car that, according to the GPS on it, is sitting outside the castle that the cartel is in?"

MacGyver just smiled. Answering either question would just make her angrier.

"How did you find this laptop, and launch Skype, remotely?" Riley asked.

Tersely, Thornton informed her, "INTERPOL has hackers too, Riley." She inhaled and exhaled, then continued. "And you didn't really try covering your tracks, which is unusual for you."

"I was in a hurry, and… I… was… In a hurry."

Thornton's lips thinned a moment. "INTERPOL, the police, the other offices, and myself had a plan in place in the event we lost contact with Jack for more than six hours. They were going to send in a team of covert operatives to retrieve Jack and then raid the castle. Jack was not made aware of this plan. If he knew there was a safety net, I knew he wouldn't push back hard enough, and with cartel members watching him, and you, your fight had to be a hard sell, Mac." She cut off MacGyver when he started to speak. "And I didn't tell either of you because it was need to know; neither of you needed to know since you weren't even a part of this mission. Had you trusted me, like I thought both of you did, we wouldn't be having this conversation, would we?"

Riley shook her head while MacGyver muttered, "No, ma'am."

"Because the two of you have chosen to throw a wrench into a collaborative plan that took months for us to prepare, thereby jeopardizing the success of this mission, the timetable for the raid has been moved up. INTERPOL and the Dutch have lost interest in saving one man over protecting their country, and when they raid that castle in thirty minutes, they are going to be shooting first and checking identities later. Do you understand, MacGyver?"

"Yes, ma'am," he answered. "I have thirty minutes to get in, find Jack, and get out, or we will likely be killed by friendly fire."

"Correct. And just to be clear, if your insubordination gets Jack killed today, I promise that _neither_ of you will see the light of day again. Your thirty minutes starts _now_."

The video chat screen went black.

"We are in _a lot_ of trouble for this, aren't we?" Riley asked.

"Yes, we are." MacGyver put the car in gear and stepped on the gas. "And I'm sneaking up a latrine."

Riley smirked. "That sounded better in your head, didn't it?"

He nodded, offering a slight smile. MacGyver sped down the road until he found what sort of resembled a road leading off into the woods. He turned and drove until he could see the castle wall ahead. MacGyver turned the car around, aiming it back down the almost-there-road.

"Keep the engine running and the car warm," MacGyver ordered as he got out.

She slipped into the driver's seat. "The car warm?"

"That water is going to be freezing."

"Check. Cranking up the heater for ya."

He pulled his leather jacket off and tossed it onto the backseat.

"Hey," Riley said.

He looked in the rearview mirror at her.

"Both of you come back in one piece, okay?"

He nodded once and headed for the castle.

At the edge of the forest, he crouched down and watched the wall. Four men walked along the wall, watching the woods, but they would have to pass through a turret and for thirty-seconds they wouldn't be able to see him.

As soon as they disappeared, he slipped into the water and dove down. The water was icy cold and so muddy he couldn't see his hand in front of his face. So he just kept swimming until his fingers brushed something solid. He surfaced, finding he'd reached the castle wall, but he hadn't swum in the straight line he'd intended. Keeping an eye on the walk above him, he moved under the latrine room that jutted out of the wall. It took a lot of effort to scale the wall and climb up the latrine hole – a hole not intended for a grown man to crawl through.

The top of the once-used latrine was covered with boards. He dug his knife out and started prying them loose. He froze when he heard voices on the other side, but they passed. The boards finally came loose, and he was able to climb into the latrine room to discover the room no longer had a door. He put the boards back over the latrine and tried to take cover in the small corner next to the doorway. He watched the hall as he racked his brain for a plan to find Jack.

He noticed a surveillance camera pointed at another hall, and, luckily, away from him. That meant there was likely a control room and if he were lucky, the room Jack was being held in would also have a camera. MacGyver took a step and heard a soft squish. He looked down and realized he was going to leave a trail of water. He hoped no one would notice wet footprints.

MacGyver walked to the corner under the camera and looked at the wiring. Staying close to the wall he followed the wires through the halls, ducking behind things or into rooms whenever he heard people coming. He knew there was no way he wasn't being seen on the cameras and it made him wonder why someone hadn't sounded an alarm.

He eventually came to a room where all the wires merged. He slowly opened the door and slipped inside. A stout man was asleep in a chair in front of the monitors; that explained why no one had sounded an alarm. MacGyver crept over to an empty chair and started to pick it up, then he realized the man might just sleep through everything, and he wouldn't have to cause a commotion. Carefully and quietly, he sat the chair back down.

He walked up behind the man and looked at the monitors. He caught his breath when he saw Jack. He was standing on a wine barrel that was shaking under him. His hands were handcuffed behind him, and a noose was tied around his neck. A wrong move and he'd kill himself. MacGyver quietly walked in front of the man and started working the controls, piecing together how to get to where Jack was.

Quietly he went back to the door and cracked it open. The hall was empty. He slipped out and shut it with a quiet click – to him that click was as loud as a gunshot. He waited to make sure he hadn't woken the man inside, but nothing happened. MacGyver turned and started through the halls.

/*/

Somewhere in his nightmare, Jack heard MacGyver tell him, "Just a few more seconds, Jack. Don't move yet."

Had he lost consciousness? His memories were jumbled with fantasy and reality, and he had stopped trying to keep them separate a while ago. He felt someone messing with the rope around his neck but he couldn't see them. His right eye was completely swollen shut, and he could only see white light with his left eye. His whole body shook from shock and fatigue, vibrating whatever he'd been forced to stand on. He knew it was only a matter of time that he'd pass out, fall off, and hang himself.

The rope tightened slightly around his neck. Jack bit down. If they had come back to toy with him, he wasn't going to let that happen. He was going to choose to end this on his terms. Jack started to step off.

"No, Jack, no!" MacGyver whispered near his ear. "Stand still. I've almost got the rope cut. It's really thick."

"Mac?" Jack whispered.

"Yeah. Just a little more to cut."

The rope suddenly let his neck go. MacGyver grabbed his arm.

"Step off."

Jack stepped down, and MacGyver went to work on the rope binding Jack's wrists.

"I didn't think you'd find me," Jack admitted.

"I just followed the smell of beer and pretzels," MacGyver joked.

Jack smiled a little. "Is Riley okay?"

"Yes. She's waiting outside with the engine running."

"I knew Thornton'd send you two."

"She… Didn't. We came against orders."

"She pissed?"

"Yeah. You know, I should have waited a little longer. This whole swollen face look is an improvement for you."

"Laugh it up, chuckles."

With a very soft click, the handcuffs fell to the floor. Jack threw his arms around his best friend, hugging him tight.

MacGyver let it linger for a moment, then pulled back. "We gotta move. INTERPOL and a few other acronyms will be here in ten minutes, and they'll shoot anything that moves."

"As bad as that is, I can't see," Jack wistfully admitted.

MacGyver grabbed Jack's hand and slapped it down on his shoulder.

"Then hold on tight, because I am getting you out of here."

He led Jack to the door and started through the halls. They rounded a corner when the alarm sounded.

"Is that because of us?"

"Or else INTERPOL is ten minutes early."

MacGyver heard footsteps and pushed Jack back into a doorway. Five men ran past them. He looped his arm around Jack's arm and pulled him into a run. Jack stumbled and tripped over the uneven spots on the floor, but MacGyver kept him on his feet. They came around a corner as two men came rounded a corner at the other end of the hall. MacGyver quickly pushed Jack back into the last hall as bullets started whizzing past.

"We trapped?" Jack asked.

"Doesn't look promising."

"Want my gun?"

"No."

"That's good."

"Why?"

"I had a tranquilizer gun that I left at the hotel with Riley. Did you know I tranq'ed you? Cuz I did, but I'm not really that sorry after all those lectures."

"You gave me too much, and I was stoned."

"Aw man! I missed the best part of this entire mission?"

MacGyver shook his head with a smile. At least Jack still had his sense of humor.

He looked down the hall, spotting a door. MacGyver looked his arm around Jack's and led him to the door. The two slipped into the room and locked the door. MacGyver pulled Jack away from the door and up against the stone wall. Outside the shooting quickly stopped. Running footsteps approached. Someone stopped and rattled the door, then something hit it. The footsteps faded away, but the two waited.

"They're gone," Jack said.

MacGyver hoped so. He looked around the room for inspiration. They were in a library with floor to ceiling shelves of books. There was a giant fireplace taking up the other end. There were several floor candelabras and antique chairs placed around the room. At the center of the room were two matching couches and a wet bar. In an alcove was an antique desk.

"Here. Sit down," MacGyver said, guiding Jack's hand to a chair next to him.

MacGyver ran over to the wet bar and rummaged through it, taking a mental inventory. Then he rummaged through the desk. He had a lot of options, but most of those options were too much, too little, or would distract but provide no cover. He spotted a bench with a lid under one of the windows and flipped it open. There were several blankets, two rolls of yarn, and at the very bottom was a clothes iron. A eureka hit and his plan quickly came together.

 _ **What we need is a good distraction but without blowing anything up. In the Army, I had pulled apart and created enough of my own to understand the elements. A fuse and a chemical powder that would burn fast and release a lot of smoke, but not explode. A library may not be the ideal place to find enough for a decent smoke bomb, but we had less than twenty feet between to the lavatory. I just needed a lot of smoke.**_

MacGyver grabbed the clothes iron, then ran back to the writing desk for scissors. He grabbed all the candles candelabras and jogged over to Jack. He sat the candles in Jack's lap and pushed the scissors into his hand.

"I need the wicks from the candles."

Jack nodded.

MacGyver ran back to the cabinet and pulled out a case of beer, a cold press, sugar, bottled water, a cocktail shaker, two long glass stirrers. From the desk, he grabbed an instant cold pack and a dozen C batteries. He plugged in the iron, turned it all the way up, and rigged it upside down, providing him with a hot plate. Quickly he unwrapped the batteries, careful to keep the paper casing intact. In half of the cocktail shaker, he poured sugar and water and set it on top of the iron. He pulled out the beers and tore the cardboard into two-inch squares. Once the sugar water began to boil, he stirred it until all the sugar had dissolved.

"Done," Jack softly told him.

MacGyver ran over and collected the wicks, then moved back to the bar. With the sugar mixture dissolved he used a bar towel to pull the shaker off the iron and then the edge of a paper towel to wipe the mixture on the battery paper. He pressed each paper onto a piece of cardboard and set them in the mini-fridge to harden. He cut open the cold press and emptied the packet of ammonium nitrate into the other half of the shaker, and then added an even amount of sugar. MacGyver put the shaker on the iron and began to slowly stir it.

The sugar started to caramelize and slowly turn into a tan paste. He took it off and set it aside, then pulled out the paper molds. MacGyver carefully filled each mold with the paste and then pushed a wick into the center of each one. He put the molds back into the refrigerator and began hunting down a lighter. All he could find were fireplace matches. He took them back to the bar and cut them down to a reasonable size, and then put them in his shirt pocket.

MacGyver looked over at Jack. He was slumped over in a chair. He ran over and gently pushed Jack back. His friend had hardly any color in his face, he was starting to sweat, and his lips were slightly blue.

"Another couple minutes and we're moving again. How are you feeling?"

"I think they did a good number on my insides too."

MacGyver lifted Jack's torn shirt up. There wasn't a part of his torso that wasn't covered in dark bruises and bleeding welts. Parts of the skin bulged, suggesting either broken bones or internal bleeding. There was no way he'd make it back to the warehouse and then to a hospital. MacGyver lowered it down. He almost reached up to put a hand on his friend's neck, but the raw rope burn from the noose made him lower his hand.

"Okay. We are going to get out of here and head straight to a hospital, but I need you to hold on for just a few more minutes, okay? Stay with me for just a little bit longer, buddy."

Jack nodded.

MacGyver stood up and turned to go back to the wet bar. Jack reached out, and his fingers fumbled to MacGyver's arm before he grabbed his wrist.

"Mac."

MacGyver turned around. "Yeah?"

"All that stuff I said in the SUV…" Jack dropped his hand. "I didn't mean any of that. I was just trying to rile you up, hoping I could get you to leave me on my own and you'd stay with Riley, keep her safe. You really are stubborn, but that other stuff…" He almost shook his head. "You are a good friend – the best. And I appreciate that you care enough to worry when I don't call or show up at work, even when we're fighting. Thank you."

MacGyver crouched back down in front of him. "You weren't entirely wrong. I don't always realize when people don't want my help. I'll do better to listen when you tell me you don't want my help."

Jack pressed his lips together, then shook his head. "I'll always want your help. And, man, I am so proud that you will never use a gun. Well, not in the way Smith and Wesson intended them to be used, but, you know what I mean."

"I know what you mean. Thanks, Jack. I said things I didn't mean either, except all that about your gambling. You have got to stop."

"I'm trying. I've been going to gambler anonymous meetings since the Atlanta fiasco."

"Why haven't you ever told me?"

"I wanted to wait until I got my year token, but it's been really hard getting there. I had to restart the steps several times in the first year. But I think, maybe, this time I got it. I'm only two months from my year token. I mean… You don't think that gambling I did for my cover counts, do you?"

"I don't know. Did you want to go out and gamble afterward?"

Jack scoffed. "I had to intentionally tank the tenth race, Mac. It felt like the worst joke ever."

"You _actually_ _won_ nine races?"

Jack almost laughed but stopped, holding his ribs. "Yeah. I kept betting on losers, and the damn horses kept _winning_! I guess Ol' Murphy was dishing out some payback for everything that I put you and my family through."

MacGyver laid his hand on Jack's shoulder. "I'm proud of you. And when you get that year token, we're going to have a party. A big one!"

Jack cocked his head to the side. "You mean after you break us out of a castle with violent drug cartel members running around it and INTERPOL arriving at any minute to shoot anything that moves?"

"Eh! Just another Tuesday at the office."

Both tensed when they heard gunfire erupt somewhere in the castle.

Jack stated the obvious, "Time to go?"

"Yeah. Hope these will work as they are."

"What are they?"

"Smoke bombs. Maybe. I hope." MacGyver ran back to the fridge and pulled them out. When he came back to Jack, he handed him half and then stuck some matches in his shirt pocket.

"When I tell you to, light one and throw where I tell you to. I have no idea if these will work or blow up."

"Blow u… Oh. Great!"

"Ready?"

"Would it matter if I said no?"

"Not really."

"I'm ready."

He put Jack's hand back on his shoulder. "Here we go."

MacGyver lit the fuse of one of his smoke bombs and threw it out the door. He waited a few minutes and then ran out into a smoke filled hall. Suddenly a fire alarm went off. Somewhere else in the castle, they could hear gunfire. MacGyver ran through the halls, tossing a lit bomb any time he saw a person.

"Jack, ahead and right."

Jack let go, lit a bomb and tossed it past MacGyver. It landed at the feet of two men that had just come around the corner and were aiming at them. Not knowing what had just been tossed at them, the men ran. The fuse hit the bomb, and the hall filled with smoke. Jack's hand latched onto MacGyver's shoulder again.

"It smells like ass!" Jack complained.

MacGyver didn't disagree, but he didn't have time to get into a debate about his chemistry experiment. Suddenly the latrine door was in sight. And so were three men that had just rounded the corner.

"Straight ahead, Jack!"

Jack let go, lit a bomb and threw it. The men ran away, and MacGyver pulled Jack into the latrine room. He pushed the boards off the seat.

"Step up here." MacGyver put both of Jack's hands on the seat.

Jack stepped up.

"Step into the hole, and you're going to drop into really cold water."

"Water?"

"It's the moat around the castle."

"A moat!?"

"Jack, go!"

Jack stepped forward and disappeared into the hole. MacGyver climbed onto the latrine and jumped through the hole. He splashed into the moat next to Jack and grabbed his arm. He guided his hand to his belt.

"Hold on and kick," MacGyver ordered.

MacGyver swam toward the shore, pushed forward by Jack kicking. The two had reached shallow water when bullets started whizzing past, slapping the mud and trees around them. MacGyver put his arm around Jack's waist and pulled him into a run, disappearing into the shelter of the trees. They reached the car, and he opened the back door.

"You're sitting down in a car."

MacGyver got him in and shut the door. He ran around and climbed in the back with Jack.

"Back to the warehouse?" Riley asked from the front.

"Find the nearest hospital. Thornton can sort out the questions later."

Riley quickly tapped on her smartphone, found a hospital, and then dropped the car into drive and stomped on the gas. The car lurched forward into the woods, headed for the road.

"So cold," Jack whispered. He was starting to shiver.

MacGyver wrapped his jacket around Jack.

"How far to the hospital?" MacGyver asked Riley.

"Ten minutes."

"Run lights. Make it in five."

"Check."

Jack suddenly slumped against MacGyver. Unconscious, Jack began to shiver more intensely. MacGyver put his arm around his friend and pulled close to him, hoping his body heat would keep him warm enough until they reached the hospital.

"Hang in there, Jack," MacGyver quietly said.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

 **SOMEWHERE OVER THE ATLANTIC**

Being shaken woke Jack with a jerk, which he immediately regretted as pain cascaded across his body. He opened his eyes and found they weren't working any better than his body. His left eye barely opened, and everything was a blur of colors. His left eye felt like it was open, but there was only black. When he tried to sit up, he discovered straps held him down around his legs, hips, and chests. Panic began to creep over him – had he dreamt that MacGyver had saved him?

Jack pushed and struggled against his restraints, focusing on his freedom over the pain it was causing.

"Easy. Easy, Jack," he heard Thornton say and then her hands laid gently on his shoulders. "Easy. You're safe, you're safe. Relax." She gave his shoulders a gentle, reassuring squeeze.

He did relax and closed his eyes. Now he listened. He heard the muted drone of an airplane engine and a heart monitor softly beeping nearby. He felt a tube laying lightly across his face and felt cool air against his nose. He realized he was freezing, too.

"Where are we?" he asked.

"Somewhere over the Atlantic on a transport."

"I'm cold."

"Lay still. I'll be right back."

Her hands moved away. He could hear her footsteps on the metal floor of the plane fade away, and then return. She spread two blankets over him and then things were quiet again. A pocket of turbulence lightly shook the plane.

"Why are we on a transporter?"

"The gurney and medical equipment wouldn't fit on the jet."

"Where's Mac and Riley?"

"They're asleep up front. I don't think either slept much in the last five days."

"Five days?"

"Yeah." She laid a hand on his shoulder again. "You spent three days in intensive care and another two at the military hospital. Go back to sleep."

Jack sighed. He realized he was on the edge of falling asleep, but he wanted to talk. He longed for the comfort of something familiar after what he'd just lived through.

"Am I going home?"

"Not to your house. Not yet. The VA doctor in Las Angeles wants to keep you for at least four days. On the plus side, they only fractured bones and did the most work on the soft areas."

"I don't have soft areas," Jack joked.

She chuckled, making him smile.

"Okay. You don't have soft areas. That's why you left Riley at the safe location and lured them away from her."

"I have a soft heart! Just, you know, I'm Iron Man everywhere else."

"Oh. I see."

"Okay. Spill it. Just how bad off am I?"

"You have multiple fractured bones, except for your right cheek, which is shattered and whatever happened there, also caused the retina in your right eye to detach. There was no guarantee you might not notice vision loss in that eye, and you will be wearing an eye patch for a while. Your left eye was swollen and became infected, but once they got that under control, the doctors said you shouldn't have any loss of vision. You were stabbed twenty-three times. The wounds weren't deep enough to be lethal, but several did become infected and the infection keeps coming back. You have a bruised thorax, throat, and several discs in your neck from the rope they tried hanging you with. You have a dislocated left shoulder, and the bones in both wrists and your left hip are bruised. And that swim you and Mac took in the polluted moat exposed you both to e. coli and you both have pneumonia. I hope you have Netflix and Hulu subscriptions, because you won't be leaving your couch or bed for at least four to six _months_."

"So that's why I feel like I've been thrown off a building. Good to know. At least they left me with my, you know, _manliness_."

"No they didn't. I just told you about several injuries they inflicted on your head."

"Ha. Ha."

He heard her softly chuckle.

"Do I remember right that Mac said they weren't supposed to come after me?"

"You did."

"You weren't too hard on them, were you?"

"They were insubordinate."

"Patty."

"Jack, they disobeyed an order. They just needed to trust me."

Jack smiled again. "So it's really about your hurt feelings."

"No. It's about the two not obeying orders."

"And your hurt feelings."

"Jack, stop."

"I know you, Patty. Your feelings were hurt."

"If you tell them I will never speak to you again."

"We know each other better than that. And they did disobey your order. For a good cause, yeah, but still... So what _did_ you do to them?"

"Riley is assigned to the front desk for ninety days, and MacGyver is assigned to the maintenance crew."

Jack grinned. "Riley has access to a computer at the front desk."

"Yes, but if she is caught hacking from it or on the Internet she will be reassigned to the janitor crew for the remainder of those ninety days." Thornton paused. "I won't be surprised if she's cleaning toilets within a week."

"Why? What did you do?"

"I told her she had to smile and be nice when she greeted every visitor, not matter what they said or did. No punches, no going home and hacking them. I expected her best manners and behavior or she would go to the janitor crew and clean toilet bowls. _All_ of the toilet bowls."

"That's harsh, but it'll be good for her. And maybe, with Mac on the maintenance crew, the buzzing light in your office and that toilet up on the fourth floor will finally get fixed."

"I'd settle for the coffee maker making the same kind of coffee every day."

"That would be nice. Yeah."

They were silent for a moment.

"I'm sorry I couldn't pull you out when you said your cover was blown, Jack."

"Don't be."

"I put you in this position, and—"

"No, no. Patty… You asked me if I would do the mission, you gave me the option of saying no, and I said yes. I was well aware that pissing off a cartel doesn't usually end well."

"You were so angry at the airport before you left for Antwerp, Jack."

"Of course I was angry! I had to willingly let some assholes hand me my ass! You'd be mad about that too. But I shouldn't have taken that out on you or asked you to pull me out. Stop beating yourself up. You were the mission leader, you stood your ground like you were supposed to, and you got me out. Okay? No more guilt. Poof. Gone."

She lightly patted his shoulder but left it lying on there. Knowing she was feeling guilty he wondered if she had to touch him just to reassure herself that her best friend was still alive and really lying next to her.

"I will always feel guilty when I get my close friends hurt, right or not."

He turned his head, pressing his cheek against her hand. "That's why we're good friends." Jack shrugged his eyebrows and wagged his head a couple times. "However, there is one thing that I… Think you should have… Considered." He hesitated.

"What?"

"I was distracted because Mac and Riley had to go into this without knowing the risk. Let's never to do that again. Either I do the mission without them, or they get read in. I didn't feel focused because I was trying to protect them, especially Riley. She hasn't even beaten you in hand to hand, and I _have_ to protect her."

"Why are you so protective of her?"

"Before her mom died I promised I'd look after her. She's kind of like a daughter to me."

That revelation was met with silence. Jack wondered if he'd said too much.

"I agree with you," Thornton told him. "From now on, we either leave them out or be read in. They became a liability."

"A liability? That's what you call them?"

"They distracted both of us, Jack. I was taken by surprise at how angry Mac got with you for gambling, and by Riley trying to be the peace keeper. She has clearly bonded to the two of you, and Mac really is your best friend – more than I am, I think. They wanted to save you because they didn't know you were in danger on purpose. _That_ was what made them a liability."

"Yah, I guess you're right. Thanks for agreeing. And just for the record a person can have more than one best friend."

She didn't speak for a moment. She gave his shoulder a squeeze.

"Mac told me that you are going to gamblers anonymous meetings," Thornton said.

"Yeah. Two more months and I'll have my year token."

"He mentioned you wondered if the gambling you did for the job was a setback. What do you think?"

"I don't think so. It was a good reminder why I'm going to the meetings. Stupid horses."

She chuckled again. "Yes. I was perplexed by that unusual turn of events myself. Although, I think that is what got you in the most trouble with them."

"You don't think conveniently losing 3K of heroin is what did it?"

"That did not help. Where did you lose those drugs, by the way?"

"I cut the bricks open and poured it into the ocean. Out there somewhere are some really high fish."

She laughed for several minutes. Jack grinned.

"Was it really that funny?" he asked her.

"I'm picturing what high fish must look like."

"They can't tell the difference between seaweed and their buddy Dora."

She laughed again.

He heard a soft beep and within seconds he felt woozy. Warmth quickly spread across his body followed by the feeling he was floating.

"I'm getting a morphine, aren't I?" he asked.

"Yes. It just released the next dose. Feeling it?"

"Oh yeah. Nothing like being legally high."

She was close when she told him. "Go back to sleep. We'll all be right here."

Jack smiled. "Best friends ever."

He was asleep when she finally murmured, "Yes, you are."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

 **LAS ANGELES**

When the front door of his house opened, it startled Jack awake. His hand went for his gun under the couch cushion, only to find it wasn't there. He held his breath, staring wide-eyed toward the front door.

"You awake?" MacGyver called from the front hall.

"We brought pizza," Riley added.

The two came around the corner and went straight into the kitchen. Jack closed his eyes, catching his breath, and then remembering how much pain he was still in. He slowly sat up and moved to the end of the couch.

"I think you sleep dialed me because you asked for a supreme pizza," Riley told Jack. "Which is weird since you hate black olives."

Jack closed his eyes. Well, his left eye, anyway. The right was still in darkness with the eyepatch covering it.

"Hey," he heard Riley say and looked up at her.

She knelt down by the couch, laying her hand on his arm. She looked worried. "Are you okay? You look a little spooked?"

"You two startled me."

"Sorry. Do you want anything?"

"A beer."

"When you're not on the really good drugs, sure. What else?"

"Ice water."

She smiled and left. It took a lot of effort, but Jack slowly sat up and released the footrest on the couch. He heard her and MacGyver talk for a minute and then MacGyver came into the room. He had a donut that he handed off to Jack and then sat down in an overstuffed chair.

"You gotta stop buying me stuff, Mac."

"It's a donut."

"A donut, groceries, my electric and water bill, and today I found out you paid my next two mortgage payments." Jack met his friend's gaze, telling him, "You didn't do anything wrong, Mac, and I was never mad at you."

"I should have trusted you."

"Well, you can't buy away guilt so stop trying. Besides…" Jack paused to pop a small bite of his donut in his mouth. "Ohhhhhh. This is Lamar's isn't it?"

"Yep. Bought a dozen, all your favorites."

Jack sat his donut on the side table next to the couch, tear off a nibble every so often.

"I will not turn down Lamar's donuts, but you need to stop with the rest of the stuff. Okay?"

"I won't promise anything."

"Fine, then here's something that will change your mind." Jack grinned. "My undercover acting was more incredible than any that you've ever done. _Ever_!"

"No, it was not amazing. It wasn't good. Fair maybe."

"You wouldn't be feeling guilty if you hadn't bought my cover hook, line, and sinker. I am now the super undercover agent! BOOM!"

"I had my suspicions."

"Yeah? When was that?" Riley asked as she came in. She sat an ice water down next to Jack and then sat on the other end of the couch. "You were as convinced as I was in that vault that Jack had gone rogue."

Jack gave his eyebrows a smug shrug. "I am the super undercover agent and you know it."

MacGyver shook his head with a smile. "I take back every nice thing I've said about you in the last two weeks."

Jack laughed. "Being a sore loser doesn't change the fact that I was way better than you."

"For now. But when we get to the next undercover, I am taking my title back."

"Oooo. A bet? A box of Lamar's says you will not get that title back," Jack taunted.

"I'll get in on that. I'll throw in a bag of Doritos," Riley said. "You'll be able to eat Doritos by then, right?"

Jack nodded.

"Fine. I bet a six pack from both of you." MacGyver stood up. "I gotta run. Better not be late for my shift if I don't want more time added."

"You two are still on desk duty, huh?"

"I like my desk duty. I have to sit at the front desk and pretend to like people," Riley told him. "Then me and John, the other receptionist who is flaming, gossip about them behind their back."

Jack noticed MacGyver was giving her a hard stare.

"Take it janitor duties aren't something you're enjoying?" Jack asked him, trying not to smirk.

"No, and Bozer reminds me of how amused he is about it every day," MacGyver answered, but then shrugged with a smile. "It was for a good cause, though."

"Yes it was," Riley said in a strange, quiet voice.

The men looked at her. She was playing with a lock of hair, seeming to not notice them.

"Riley, will you be able to wrestle him if he tries making a beer run?"

She smiled, looking up at him. "Oh yeah. I know where most of the bruises are. I have the tactical advantage."

"That was uncalled for, missy," Jack told her.

"Call me _missy_ one more time, and I'll prove my tactical advantage."

"Try not to kill each other." MacGyver told them as he left. "See you tomorrow, Jack."

The door closed, and the house was silent for a moment. Jack picked up the TV remote and turned on the television. Riley looked around the room.

"Pizza will be done in seven minutes."

"Did I really call to ask for a supreme pizza? I do _not_ remember that."

"You sounded pretty stoned, and yeah, you did."

"Guess I'm picking off olives."

She smiled. The two stopped talking, but she continued to watch him. Jack could feel her stare.

"What's on your mind, Ri?" he asked her.

"Are you really feeling okay? You look…"

"Like I was just tortured by a guy that reminded me of a WWE wrestler? I'm fine. I hurt, but it's just pain. It goes away eventually."

She smiled.

"Remember when you'd wake me up at, like, two in the morning on Saturdays and we'd sneak down to the basement to watch wrestling?"

"Your mom would have killed me if she'd known about that."

"She did know. She thought it was sweet."

Jack smiled. "And what did you think about it?"

"It was fun. Let's do that. Let's watch wrestling all night."

"Really?" he asked, looking at her.

She smiled. "Yeah. Like old times."

"You're a lot bigger than you were in the old times," he said as he picked up the TV remote.

She watched him find a wrestling match and set the remote aside. Riley slid across the couch and sat down next to him. She picked up his arm and put it around her shoulders, then rested her head on his shoulder.

"You know, my dad vanished when I got arrested. Everyone did, except you. You came every week even when I told you I didn't want to see you or wouldn't come to the visitation room. When I returned every card you sent for my birthday and the holidays, you still sent them. That meant a lot, Jack."

"Ya don't abandon your friends when they get themselves in trouble. That's when they need you to stick around the most."

She smiled a knowing smile. "Best advice ever."

Jack gave her shoulders a light hug.

 **The End**

/*/

 **Author's Note** : If you're the science-y type, you're probably thinking to yourself, "Writer-person, none of those MavGyverisms would even work. All those inventions are hooey!" Of _course_ they are! I'd rather not to receive a compulsory invitation to the 'no fly' list. I'm insane, not stupid!


End file.
